| abstract
| - Most Model UN's are simulations of a body in the United Nations system, such as:
* The General Assembly in both plenary form and within its functional committees
* Economic and Social Council and its specialized councils and agencies
* Security Council
* International Court of Justice Many conferences simulate other IGOs including:
* European Union
* African Union
* Organization of American States
* The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO
* Arab League
* South Asian Association For Regional Co-Operation In addition, solely national organizations such as the United States National Security Council are often simulated, with delegates role-playing specific people (e.g. the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense) rather than representing countries. This may be taken one step further, having the delegate represent merely the interests of his/her office, or role-play a specific holder of the office (e.g. Condoleezza Rice). More unusual committees abound at the collegiate level; for instance, a college conference may simulate the Greco-Persian Wars via a committee of the Greek poleis, or even have a committee simulating President David Palmer's cabinet from the TV show 24, simulated by the University of Pennsylvania Model UN Conference in 2007. Many conferences also run crisis simulations in which hypothetical real world factors are included in the simulation, including representatives from various groups such as member states that are not members of the simulated committee. These can take the place of rapidly-changing Security Council simulations, historical simulations, hypothetical simulations set in the future, and war games (typically conducted by War Cabinets, either standing alone or with two Cabinets running in parallel). Some conferences substitute research topics for a crisis which can span all the committees of the conference. Model UNs are often run using basic parliamentary procedure. This allows all delegates to be active participants. Common activities in MUN involve giving speeches to the committee and writing resolutions concerning a given topic. Additionally, at the end of longer conferences, awards are commonly given to either individual delegates, delegations, or both. The judging of this varies. For example, in conferences on the West Coast of the United States (e.g. the UCLA Model United Nations conference), delegates are given points for every action they perform, which are added. At the end of the conference, awards are given to the highest point scorer. On the other hand, on the East Coast of the United States, at conferences such as the Harvard National Model United Nations, delegates are judged in a more holistic manner. Giving awards is less common at smaller conferences. In addition, many larger conferences do not give awards at all, feeling that competition detracts from the simulation experience.
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